Day at the Capitol

Two Electronic Engineering Technology (EET) senior project teams traveled to the State Capitol to attend the WSU Day at the Capitol on February 2, 2012. Both teams are working with the Community Involvement Center (CIC) to do projects for Pioneer Adult Rehabilitation Center (PARC), an organization that uses disabled and special needs employees to assemble and package various kits and other products. Both projects applied for and received Hall Grant funding. 

One team, consisting of Clyde Conley, Zack Lowder, and Chris White, is doing a project to help automate PARC’s inventory system. Their project deploys scanners and automated counters to help maintain a large inventory that must otherwise be tallied by hand. The other team, consisting of Brian Berry, Richard Ellis, and Kevin Kupfer, is designing a scale system that can be used to verify that completed kits have the correct weight. This should reduce packaging errors and could save hundreds of man hours over the course of a year. 

The teams designed posters and made impromptu presentations to state senators and representatives as they visited the exhibits. The presentations received a lot of attention; visitors included WSU President Ann Millner and Senator Stuart C. Reid. The response was universally positive, particularly from people associated with the CIC and the Hall Grant committee who were pleased to hear about the progress. Many of them simply said, “Good job guys!” 

Also participating were Dr. Brenda Kowalewski, Director of the CIC, and Dr. Fon Brown, EET Senior Projects Coordinator.